Israel launches airstrikes on Beirut after bombs in Gaza kill 19 inside mosque ahead of October 7 anniversary
6 October 2024, 23:07 | Updated: 7 October 2024, 07:33
Israel has intensified airstrikes on Gaza and Lebanon as it is set to mark the anniversary of the October 7 massacre which sparked the war in the Middle East that now threatens to spiral out of control.
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Ahead of the anniversary, Israel increased bombardment of northern Gaza and southern Lebanon on Sunday.
Palestinian officials said one strike on a mosque killed at least 19 people.
The strike hit a mosque sheltering displaced people near the al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the town of Deir al-Balah, the hospital said in a statement.
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New strikes began in the Beirut suburbs late Sunday.
The war has widened to include the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah in recent weeks - with Israel also vowing to strike back against Iran after a largely-foiled ballistic missile attack on Tuesday.
Israel is still battling Hamas in Gaza nearly a year after its October 7 attack, and has opened a new front against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which has been trading fire with Israel along the border since the war in Gaza began.
Iran-allied militant groups in Syria, Iraq and Yemen have all launched long-distance strikes on Israel.
The widening conflict risks further drawing in the United States, which has provided crucial military and diplomatic support to Israel.
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The Israeli military says it conducted precise strikes on Hamas terrorists.
In Gaza, an Associated Press journalist counted the bodies at the hospital morgue.
Hospital records showed that the 19 dead were all men.
Another two men were critically wounded, the hospital said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment about the strike on the mosque.
The latest strikes add to the mounting Palestinian death toll in Gaza, which is now nearing 42,000 according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths, however many of those killed so far have included large swathes of women and children.
